DAY 2Morning: Mix together all ingredients for final dough, 1 - 2 min. at low speed (or by hand), until all flour is hydrated and coarse ball forms. Knead 4 min. at medium-low speed. The dough should feel rather tacky. Let rest for 5 min., then knead 1 more min. at medium-low speed. Place dough in lightly oiled container, cover, and let rise at room temperature, approximately 4 - 5 hours, or until it has grown to about 1 1/2 times its original size.

Shape dough into boule, and proof in banneton, seam side up (or down, depending on the pattern you want - the bread on the photo was proofed seam side down, no scoring necessary), at room temperature for ca. 2 - 3 1/2 hrs., or until bread has risen to about 1 1/2 times its original size. (Preheat oven after ca. 2 1/2 hrs.)

This bread looks great! I absolutely love the slightly irregurlar looking scoring on your loaf. I've actually never heard the term "Feinbrot", but after googling I found out that this is a term used in Northern Germany; in the southern areas where I live it would be called something along the lines of "Weizenmischbrot" ("bread made of a blend of a higher portion of wheat and a lower portion of rye").

I am still quite a newbie, so I have a question: What is the purpose of the soaker? I've read a lot of recipes with soakers, but they mostly with shredded grain and/or seeds (so bigger pieces) but not flour. Does this "flour soaker" enhance the flavour or texture in any specific way? I'm really eager to get to know the most basic principles of fermentation and such things, so I find this quite interesting.

Khalid: this bread has a distinctive sourdough flavor with a hint of spicyness. If you are only used to sweet-ish American breads (I know you aren't) you might find it too sour. My husband spent part of his childhood in Germany, and this is his favorite bread. My stepdaughters at first thought it looked strange, and tasted too strong. Now they love it, too.

Nico: give it a try (and let me know how it turned out).

Anna: when I first started making this bread i just kept ca. 1 cup of dough as starter for the next bread. At that time I had a bread machine, threw in all the ingredients in the evening, ran the "dough" program, proofed the dough in a banneton overnight and baked it in the morning (works just fine!).

When the machine finally met its maker, I turned to the pre-dough method to make up for the long machine kneading, since I didn't want to buy a new one for just Feinbrot. A whole wheat starter is my "default" starter, though in the meantime I keep a rye starter, too. You can definitely use whatever mature starter you keep, (in case of rye adjust the flour amounts accordingly. The total rye amount should stay the same). Also, nichts wie ran!

Vogel: i must admit the irregular scoring is accidental. I did the "comma" slashes around the rim, but the bridges in between opened by themselves. - Yes, traditionally soakers are used only to soften coarsely ground grains, whole grain berries, or seeds (like flaxseed).

Finely ground flours, of course, don't need much time to hydrate, but soaking them with a little bit of salt also initiates enzyme activity, and helps to release a maximum of flavor. In whole grain breads soaking flour also has another reason. Because of the large amount of fiber in whole grain flour, the sharp edges of the bran can damage the gluten threads. When the flour is soaked, the fibers soften and cause less damage to the structure of the bread (it rises better).

I very much recommend my favorite whole grain baking book: Peter Reinhart's "Whole Grain Breads". I baked nearly every bread from it, and many of those I sell - with some variations and adjustments (less sweetener, addition of bread spices etc.).

will get you everywhere, thanks, Andy! Especially since you are one of the TFL sages!

I'm quite proud of this bread, because I really developed it myself with trying it over and over again.

The temperature settings (preheat to 500, bake 10 min. at 475, and then reduce to 425 F) achieve a better crust, thin and crisp, than the one Peter Reinhart suggests for similar breads in WGB (whole wheat, transitional wheat, multigrain and transitional rye hearth breads - preheat to 500 F and bake at 450 F), resulting in a much thicker crust.

Anna, I never tried to grind spelt in a coffee mill. I once tried to grind rye in a food processor and just got a little dust off, nothing else. I buy my flours in bulk, but I got a "Wondermill Junior" for making coarse grinds of spelt, wheat and barley that you usually can't buy anywhere (I don't use it for grinding flour, it's hand powered and that takes forever).

Given I have a prize-winning student who used nettles in her bread recipe, there seems to be a medicinal herb connection going on. The starting point for her formula came from your original post on blue fenugreek, I do believe.?

I know the spices used are very different, but Faye put loads of work into this bread, and she knew exactly what she wanted from it too!

There is a lot of great information regarding soakers on Nico's post, here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/20245/cold-rye-soaker#comment-140749 More thoughts on hot soakers: mashing is of course very interesting as a means to extract sweetness, and the enzymes should, of course live on. However, the use of boiling water will raise the temperature too high for the enzymes. Additionally it will cook the flour. Not only does this de-nature the protein, as you rightly state, it also allows the starch molecules to burst open and take up a load of extra liquid; gelatinisation. It's a good trick for getting extra water into a formula, and it creates chewy and close textured breads...usually white I have to say. I'm thinking Italian-style! Maybe Nico might comment on that, although we are in "rye-free" territory here!

Protein de-naturation is great for some things too...eg. Hot Water Pastes. I've also done demonstrations of choux paste to students relating to how the degree of cooking the flour impacts on the amount of egg the roux will subsequently take up once cooled. All these are really key principles to grasp. I also like your comment above, to vogel that the soaking [cold] softens the bran and lessens the damage to the gluten network in the mixed dough.

I've been baking bread for years using mostly instant yeast, but occasionally wild yeast starters. I still am a novice where it comes to German sauerteig breads. The Feinbrot recipe looks fantastic. OK, now I have this starter made up with 2 cups flour and 1 cup water. My question is probably dumb, but how do you derive a 195 gram, 75% mother starter from this? Thanks for any pointers!

I made the bread with a starter of half rye and half WW flour. The starter must have been too wet, because I had to add an additional 100 grams of flour. The second rise may have been a tad too short and the bread turned out a little more compact than I think it should have, BUT it was a really delicious sour bread! I baked 20 minutes with steam (Toshiba steam oven) on a pizza stone, but had to extend the baking at 220 C with 15 minutes. Different oven, larger loaf, you see. Next time I am sure to improve on this first attempt at Karin's Feinbrot.

to hear your first attempt at Feinbrot turned out so well, Yumika. My baking time is a total of 40 minutes, anyway, rotating the bread after 20 minutes. You should always aim at a dough that is rather too sticky than too dry. Better err on the wet side.

my oven needs calibrating. My first attempt at Feinbrot turning out as well as it did is entirely thanks to your clear instructions. I am grateful to all who share their recipes. Recipes that took a lot of time and effort to develop!

Karin, thank you for responding to my Bauernbrot question on the Challenges forum. Yes, I know Bauernbrot is a generic term for good old bread and that everyone has their own special version. I think it's the spongy fine texture I am going after. Your picture looks great. I will definitely have to give this one a try this evening. The mix I picked up in Germany last month definitely was a good one, so I am trying to copy that.

All my family is in Germany and I visit them every so often. My favorite Broetchen are from a bakery in a little town not far from Herford; the ones I had recently in Nuernberg not so good. Probably bakery versus supermarket makes a big difference. Favorite Bauernbrot came from a village east of Kassel.

I will try your recipe exactly, except I think I will leave out the bread spices the first try. I do have a jar but want to see how the bread tastes first without it.

The soaker mellowed some overnight and mixed easily with the starter. Amazing how the dough just flopped around the mixer in chunks for awhile and then all of a sudden it all came together and made a nice dough. Probably a little too moist but I kept with your recipe and didn't add any more flour. Doubled in 4 hours, then in three. Forgot to score the loaf, but it looks very nice. Just out of the oven. I will have to distract myself with something else until it cools enough to cut!

Bake at 270 degree directly from the fridge for 10 minutes with steam. Reduce heat to 240 degree for 10 minutes and finish at 200 degree. Release steam after 15 minutes an bake with slightly open oven door the last 10 minutes

I really like the look of that bread! I have been using Dinkel (Spelt) in my breads. Most recently in Thurgauer Bodensee brot. This flour has a nutty flavor, maybe not unlike Kamut, although I have yet to try the latter.

Just want to say a BIG thank you for this recipe. It's scratched an itch I've had for some time and has quickly become a firm favourite chez Casa Witty as the perfect partner for strong cheese, smoked sausages and herrings in cream sauce...

Still a bread newbie and my bakes have been a bit cracked and wonky, but the flavour really hits the spot! :-D

I do, Karin :-) It's so much nicer than the German / Polish breads I can get here in the supermarket. A loaf went down a treat with some cat show friends yesterday. Definitely going to try some of the variants and the other recipes you suggest.

I'll definitely give those rolls a go at some point, Karin - they sound a lot like what my grandmother used to bake. Your Lubeck rye is pretty tempting too.

I have some lovely old German and Polish cookbooks that I've acquired and / or inherited, but unfortunately none of them have any bread recipes in them. But oh, the cakes, the kleingeback and the Lebkuchen... ;-) If you ever hanker for any, do give me a shout. A swap seems only fair :-)

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